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Tuesday, 6 September 2011

With the wind blowing outside and plenty of showers between the odd sun break Melbourne is definitely living up to it's "four seasons in one day" tag. I have so many friends and family with birthdays over the next couple of months ( don't we all?) that I thought I'd try and get a little head start so here is today's effort.

After looking through the Catalogue for inspiration - there are so many great ideas - I decided to case a card using an old favourite stamp set that I haven't pulled out so often lately - Cottage Garden.

As always, click on an image for a larger pic

I changed quite a bit from the original card I saw: the colours and greeting and added a couple of layers and a background stamp of Medallion, stamped once onto scrap paper first.

Medallion and the sponging seem to give almost a vintage-like feel whilst the butterflies and flower are definitely more modern - so a bit of a mix of old and new but I think it works ok.

Sunday, 4 September 2011

Spring is here at last! So nice to feel the warmth of the sun and see the new growth and the days starting to become longer. It is absolutely my favourite time of year.
And of course with the first of September also being the time of the annual release of the New SU Catalogue - which always has loads of new goodies to play with and inspire - it is doubly happy making!

I decided to delay the Fourth Friday monthly Stamp and Chat evening that I usually host for a few friends by one week so that we could have a little celebration -ie some yummy chocolate cake!

Eventually we got around to making a card or two...this time I turned to Split Coast stampers for inspiration for the card I shared. With projects made and shared by people worldwide it is fabulous for ideas - just look for the stamp set by name and see what other people are making with it.

I just made a couple of changes for this one - namely the ribbon and card stock colours.

As always, click on an image for a bigger picture

Again, it features Pennant Parade...yes, it's a favourite already! It just seems to have so many possibilities!

Having the punch does makes all the difference - its all so easy - and it's lovely to have the first Christmas card made already!

Sunday, 28 August 2011

Wow! Yes, two cards posted in one day! Of course its another case of "here is one I prepared earlier. " With the NEW Stampin UP! Idea Book and Catalogue due for release on Thursday Sept 1 it is an exciting week ahead. Loads of new stamps and accessories to add to the ever increasing Wish List.....

I have had the privilege of being able to play with one such set, Pennants Parade this week and it does have plenty of uses. To be honest I am not quite happy with this card - I think it is the black, I'm sure it would look better in a warmer colour - but I do like the design and am looking at doing something similar (but different colour) for this Friday night's Stamp and Chat at my place - usually held on the fourth Friday of the month, it was held back a week to coincide with the new Catalogue launch. It should be great fun!

Hint: click on images for a larger pic !

For the background I again used Clear embossing powder with the Sanded stamp and here you may be able to see that there must be some Dazzling Diamonds glitter mixed in too!

The Linen thread holding the banner is held in place with a couple of black brads and the white pennants have passed thru the Big Shot (of course!)

Five little circles at the bottom and it is not quite so dark after all.

It's only the third week of the blog and already nearly a week between posts! Shameful!

However, that's life isn't it? Sometimes the things we love to do have to be put on hold for one reason or another. This last week has had it's ups and downs as always but one big UP was going to see the movie Red Dog with a good friend - we are both dog owners and lovers so yes, there were a few tears, but quite a few laughs as well. We both loved it! And in fact everyone I know who has seen it seems to have loved it so do go and see it if you can, its a great Aussie film.

Natalie is a wonderful 7yr old girl who comes to visit to make cards with her Mum. She is a very talented card maker and has a great eye for colours. She especially seems to like bright colours and also makes a bee-line for my Create a Cupcake stamp set almost every time so it was a natural choice to use for a card for her Naming Day. I hope she likes it.

The glittered N is from the Sticky Letters pack that is now retiring (numbers and letters made of double sided clear sticky acetate). I mounted the N onto Pacific Blue card and then covered in Chunky Glitter.

The rest of the letters are made using the Big Shot and the Medium Sizzlits alphabet - with Crystal Effects applied to all of them and the cherry on top of the cupcake too. I love the lacquered look this gives - so 3D and fun!

The background is hard to see but the lines are actually clear embossing of the Sanded stamp - the embossing just lends a little extra texture.

Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Over the weekend I had the joy of joining another friend celebrating a 0 Birthday. As we were having a brunch to celebrate and she loves coffee it seemed very appropriate to break out and use the lovely Morning Cup set.

For something a little special I made this Shutter Card - click on the photo for a larger image.

I won't post detailed instructions as there are plenty around if you go to Google and type"shutter card". I did however adjust some measurements to make the card fit into a regular envelope when folded and it is based on an A4 original size of base card - cut at 6" horizontally.

Lots of colouring, sponging and a bit of scissor cutting out of the cups too!

Saturday, 13 August 2011

This last week has been busy in terms of 0 birthdays - two friends turning 50 and another 40 so that means a few cards to make. Always want to do something a bit special for the big numbers too don't you think?

The first card is made with the Strength and Hope set using the design that was part of the "Stamp Out Breast Cancer" world wide fundraiser that was in May and that I took part in with some friends. It was a lovely day of stamping and I hope to be able to show you more of the projects we made a little later.

I used the butterfly image, stamped off once each time, to make the background for the main image and for the 50 and sponged around all the edges of everything - as is my usual thing these days! I just love the way it adds an extra element to the page.

Monday, 8 August 2011

Welcome to my new blog!I have been a follower of several other wonderfully creative people for a some time now and have finally got around to creating my own blog to share my creations. I must admit it was easier than I had thought it might be - the templates are a wonderfully quick idea and although eventually I might add a photo to the header -when I work out how! - I am really happy with the result.

So, on with the reason for the blog.....sharing a card I have made recently...

This is a card I made for a friend whom I met a while ago out walking Sally, my beautiful, black labrador who is turning 50. ( The friend, not the dog - although at 7yrs and therefore 49 dog years, Sally is not far off it either!)
Somehow the magic of photography isn't quite as good as the real thing. And I'm not quite sure what happened to the gap between the 5 and 0 which was supposed to be a gap... but you get the general idea.

I used the lovely colour combination of Black, Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler card stocks with a punched scallop of the retiring (and will be missed) Newsprint designer paper.
I stamped off once with Cherry Cobbler using En Francais before using as a background on the Cherry Cobbler card stock.
The Eiffel Tower comes from the Artistic Etchings set as does the centre flourish. Such a wonderful set and one of my favourites just like the greeting which is from Well Scripted.

As time goes on you will likely see that I have a lot of "favourite" sets!

Tools : The Big Shot - how did we ever create without it? for the Numbers.
The XL Scallop and 13/4 circle punches and some black Satin Ribbon and Metallic brads and lots of sponging around the edges to finish.

Best of all my friend's comment was "how did you know I wanted to go to Paris?" Isn't it wonderful when occasionally we manage to get it just right?